We supply corporate photography in London and when the credit crunch hit we decided to change our invoicing and payment system. Prior to this we undertook commissions and supplied clients with the work and then would start chasing invoices after 30 days. This was time consuming and and sometimes even fruitless if the client was having their own cashflow problems. Sometimes clients would use our images but fail to pay up.

We now supply clients with watermarked proofs and an invoice. We've put a watermark - a security mark - across the image that basically rests on top so that our clients can see the image but they can't commercially use it until we've taken this off, which will only be once they've paid us. Once the invoice is settled we release the original photos. This way they can see what they're going to get - and we can get paid more quickly.

This has made a massive difference to our cashflow and also time management. We worked out that through this strategy, we've actually saved at least three days a month - we can actually use this time to get on with other things we need to do!